Of course I don't mind you disagreeing with me. No one has ever been kicked off for having their own point of view
I must confess I've only skimmed over your response as it was fairly lengthy, I imagine you and I would have some quite enjoyable conversations/debates over a few beers particularly if we got on to religion/politics
From the points that jumped out at me while skimming, I've got to add that I never claimed logic is unimportant, just that the accuracy and thus relevance of its application can vary. If one doesn't have enough information to make a fully informed and logical decision then one must use experience, instinct and judgement to make a decision.
The reasons I don't like the idea of yellow ash when I don't know what causes it are:
1. Lump wood charcoal with no additives leaves white ash
2. Corn starch is used in pretty much every briquette and they leave white ash. It would not seem logical that ths would be due to an extra additive that Weber would leave out, although that scenario is possible.
3. I have never seen yellow ash from any other source nor have I been able to find information to tell me what does burn to leave yellow ash.
Further reasons for having reservations about the product include the smell. I may not have mentioned the smell in a previous post but I write a lot of posts and I'm only human, sometimes I guess I miss bits of information
At the competition where I used them and every other team was given them, the judges did in fact make wide ranging complaints of acrid aftertaste with much of the food. But I cannot claim to remember well enough to sate that this was the case, nor can I claim to have had a control sample to have done a side by side comparison. For this reason I have not been posting about them leaving a funny taste on food.
I remember issuing words of caution to a BBQ team a couple of years ago reading their use of a galvanised bin for a BBQ. Now in theory the temperature reached in said BBQ should not be enough to cause the breakdown of the galvanised coating but after consulting with a metallurgist I found anecdotal evidence to suggest that there may be some level of breakdown and thus mild contamination of the food inside. So pure logic says, no problem or that at least the probability is very low. However given the consequences of slow gradual poisoning from ingesting zinc and other nasties in Galv, would you take the risk in the absence of definitive evidence upon which to make a decision? Which one takes priority in this case logic or risk assessment especially if you're going to feed the food to your kids?
Just saying, if you don't have and can't find the information to make decisions then the best you can do is go with your judgement. When it comes to food I'm fairly risk averse (except when we're talking Fugu -yum) and I dont think there's anything wrong with that.